In light of a recent cold, I thought I would propose two different ways people might cope with an illness. I’m not sure if it applies to you but I hope you enjoy the read.

Sickie 1:

The Eustachian tube was blocked the night before and drained the next morning. The soreness in the throat started less than three hours later. By the evening, the virus had spread and began removing the outer mucosal layers leading to severe pain.

The next morning, balance was off and the idea of moving further than a few feet was akin to climbing a mountain. Productivity was down to zero and for the next few days, nothing would get done. The only hope was to get better so that work can continue and the normal lifestyle can resume.

Sleep is never easy to come by. The circadian rhythm is affected as the immune system works without rest. Four hours was all I could manage.

Thankfully, the next day, the infection spread to the upper respiratory tract. The balance was back, the throat no longer hurt, the fog was gone. There were still many days left to heal but productivity could continue. It wouldn’t be easy and the hours as well as breath would be shorter but at least something would get done.

After all, no bug was going to prevent productivity.

Sickie 2:

There was no real warning. In the morning, I felt like a regular human being with a little pressure in my ear. Then, I sneezed and whatever blocked my hearing went away. I never thought I would regret it.

By noon, I felt horrible. By the evening, I didn’t want to move. The throat was on fire before I could do anything. I was really looking forward to a good meal but my appetite died with each painful swallow. I had to face it: I’d been taken over by a bug, a virus, an annoyance, really.

The second day was far worse than the first. My balance was off and the nausea that came with it forced me off food for almost the entire day. I couldn’t work although I promised I’d be back within a day or two. Yet without a good night’s sleep, I would never get back to normal.

The next morning after only a few hours, I woke up feeling better! My throat no longer hurt and my sinuses were actually clear. I thought maybe, just maybe, I might have beaten off the infection and could get back to normal. Then I took a deep breath and almost immediately found myself in the fetal position, coughing and wheezing for nearly 20 seconds. My joy turned into frustration. The infection had moved to my lungs. It would be hard to breathe but since I had my senses back, I knew I could go back to work.

After all, no bug was going to keep me down.

These are two of probably a million different ways people react when they get sick. The thing I find the most intriguing is that in many cases, work seems to come first. We can learn all about the pathogenesis of a bug (Sickie 1) or we can follow along the signs and symptoms (Sickie 2) of the cold but inevitably, we tend to focus on work productivity instead of the real workload: getting well.

The reason I bring this up is to help bring light to one of the major complaints that I keep hearing on Twitter and other media: “Why don’t people who are sick stay at home?” Turns out that even if we know that we live in a society where health comes first, our first world mentality continues to pressure us into believing that work will always be number one.

I’m no different. I’ve suffered a few times this year and each time, I figure that if it isn’t knocking me down, it’s not stopping me from working. We’ve all heard of working vacations, maybe it’s time to acknowledge and accept the fact that we have working sick days as well.

So, here’s what I wonder…we keep telling people to stay home when they are sick and to get better before worrying about productivity. But in the grand scheme of things, are we really caring for that person or are we just going through the motions in the hope that we ourselves don’t succumb not only to the illness, but the drop in our own productivity and the need for the working sick day?

We care about those others that we work with, enough to not make their day any more challenging than it would be the case under normal circumstances. That’s the altruistic reality. The better approach is to grasp that others will be subjected to the bugs and staying home is in fact an even more altruistic approach. Then, one can stay away to get better and fell rather good about it all. Yet, there is always that nagging dread that during one’s absence no one will pick up the slack, even mess things up. Ouch!

Much like many expressions of altruism, this one is misplaced and may end up hindering rather than helping. I believe that a more individualistic, perhaps existential perspective needs to be understood in that the individual has to see themselves not only as helping those in need of their presence, but also as being the cause for their future illness and possible consequences. It’s not an easy sell by any means, I’m sure.

One of my pet irritants is people who come to work sick – especially health care workers who come to work sick. It’s enough to send me on a rant. We all like to feel important, but the work will go on without you – none of us are indispensible

I think part of this mentality comes from the employers. There are just not enough people to cover the work that needs to get done and so, many people are forced to head into work. Also, the pay that comes with working certain jobs almost mandates certain people to go to work just to make ends meet.

There’s a need in our society to incorporate infection and illness as a part of everyday life…and I’m not just talking about sick days. People need to be mandated to stay home in order to prevent losses in productivity.

I really like the term “presenteeism” and so I believe that people should stay home when sick. Managers should be encouraging this.
I think people stayed home more last winter when swine flu was circulating. No one wanted you at work if you were sick, and I hope that attitude carries over to this coming winter season, because I really don’t want to catch what you have

Presenteeism has always been a problem in my estimation as the concept of productivity trumps that of overall health. When H1N1 hit last year, I don’t believe anyone was prepared to make the concessions necessary to allow people not only the opportunity but the belief of putting health first. In the time of recession, it only amplified the obvious unpreparedness.

The next time we have a wave of illness, it will be interesting to see whether or not we have learned from the past (and I include SARS in the mix) or if the value of the person continues to be in their ability, no, necessity to bring that 42-74K a year (on average based on US stats, 2009). I am not sure there will be a tremendous change but I hope that there will be an increased awareness and that in some sectors, we will see a trend towards health and not towards the dollar.

My job involves almost non-stop talking. Allergy season has been
extremely bad in my area, leading to a voice that sounds
like a 20-pack a day habit filtered through a dump truck unloading a full load of gravel plus a cough that sounds
as though my lungs will shortly be expelled. This is not contagious, just result of insufficient allergy symptom control. However, if I can’t talk, I can’t do my job, so I’ve taken a couple of sick days. I’ve also had my semi-annual pulmonologist visit, in which nasal antihistamine and ipratropium sprays were prescribed. (Added to the ceterizine-pseudoephedrine-benzonatate-nasal fluticasone routine, I’m back to vocal form.)

Presenteeism is a big problem. I’ve worked places where the Sword of Damocles hung over the hapless sick day taker’s head.

Now! wouldn’t it be ever so Helpful if Someone helped Mother Nature “Control” those WINDS!!!
On TOP of that ?
mowed lawns/trimmed all those flying burrs off the TREES/up-Rooted their Weeds/ you name IT AND They are ALL in front of our “Noses” etc.
May be Our Garbage Collectors have their OWN Story to “Relate” ???

Those are ‘traditional’ allergy associations. There are so many more nowadays that can contribute to allergies. And in some cases, these alternate sources may render normal meds ineffective and perhaps inappropriate.

I can understand the fear of presenteeism when using the meds as it will inevitably reduce the immune function and leave you compromised to infection. Not to mention, when I had an asthma in the 90s, I found pneumonia was a close and dear friend. Thankfully, it was workplace related (was a pretty nasty Level 3 facility) and once I left, my lungs cleared up nicely.

Which leads to this question: Are the allergy symptoms seasonal or does it continue year round. If the latter, there may be more to the story.

Just out of “Curiosity” Jason ?
In the ‘old’ days? they used to perform various “Tests” for “Allergy Symptoms”! such as Penicillin, Anesthetics etc.
I wonder, if before ‘pushing the Sprays’? are those similar ‘Tests’ done in this “Modern Age” ???
Here I’m thinking of Your Brother & Cousin Charlie & Our Mutual Friend !!!

The government only allows 2 sick days a year with pay. When that changes to something that makes sense, maybe we will improve health overall. If we are stressed, we are more prone to getting colds etc. Productivity should not come before a human’s basic needs. That is the world we live in… greed….

Yes Anna! I Agree with You!!!
The “Icing” on the “Cake” ?
No “Human Tendencies that is “Emotional”
Compassion/Understanding/Will to & FOR the “REAL Sick Individuals”
in a ‘so-called’ “Productivity/Competitive/Up-the Ladder Scenarios”
Sometimes I think the last case scenario is the “Peter’s Principle”
“Up-the-Ladder” and the “Job” goes over their ‘capablilities’ *******